THE DESCENT OF MAN 51 



In accordance with this purely speculative 

 supposition, man would have become man com 

 pletely only when the organised matter had so far 

 developed through natural causes, as to be capable 

 of being animated with a human soul. The 

 creation of the first human soul marks the real 

 creation of the human race, although we might 

 assume that a natural development lasting millions 

 of years had preceded it. 



These are, it is true, only attractive possibilities, 

 the outcome of bold speculation, but I have referred 

 to them here in order to prove to you that, if ever 

 science is able to demonstrate to us the natural 

 development of man from an ancestry resembling 

 beasts, the divine origin and the divine end of 

 humanity will nevertheless remain unassailed and 

 firmly established as before. 



Let us now return to the dry, serious, and 

 scientific subject whence our speculations have 

 caused us to stray. 



We here reach the most delicate and most im 

 portant question, which to some extent is the rock 

 of offence in the whole doctrine of evolution, viz. : 

 4 May this theory be applied to man, and if so, in 

 what degree ? I wish to state definitely, before 

 discussing the matter, that we are not concerned 

 with the application to man of Darwin s theory 

 of evolution, for I showed in my last lecture that 

 I was unable to accept that. We may apply the 

 theory of evolution to man, and still have as 



